Highway Trust Funds: Running empty

SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER EDITORIAL BOARD

Published 10:00 pm, Monday, May 21, 2007

By 2009, the government will find itself in a pickle over how to fund highway and bridge repair. That's when the Federal Highway Trust Fund will start to come up short for planned projects. Hmm ... where could they get the cash ... how about taxing the people who drive on them?

Federal gas taxes haven't kept up with inflation, resting at 18.4 cents per gallon for the past 14 years, when gas was $1.10 per gallon. Prices this week hover at around $3.45 a gallon.

A 4-cents-per-gallon increase died on the vine a couple of years back when The Decider himself promised to veto it. That makes little sense, given that use of the nation's highways hasn't frozen at 1993 levels. More wear'n'tear equals more repairs. Washington state is painfully familiar with being cash-strapped for repairs, and so we've approved state gas tax increases to pay for such projects.

Higher gas taxes make sense. We're accustomed to paying higher taxes -- say, for real estate -- to fund the things we may not even use ourselves (public schools, parks, etc.). So why not have the folks who use the roads pay for maintaining them? Boosting the federal gas tax won't be pretty, then again, neither is living in an autocentric culture. It's filthy, expensive and inefficient.

Some Oregon Residents Upset at Prospect of Pumping Their Own GasBuzz 60

Doug Baldwin playcallingBy Michael-Shawn Dugar, SeattlePI

Van Crashes Into Pedestrians Injuring SixAssociated Press

US military to accept transgender recruits after Trump drops appealEuronews

Snow on Christmas Eve, 2017Seattle Post-Intelligencer

Ice carving at WinterfestSeattle Post-Intelligencer

Amtrak derails near OlympiaGrant Hindsley / SeattlePI

Golden retriever meets Darth Vader and EwokSeattle Post-Intelligencer

The worst that could happen -- hah! -- is that people will drive less and rely on public transportation more. Which would ultimately result in less wear on the roads and cleaner air for all. And even if they don't, at least there will be enough money in the kitty to fill those potholes.